October 2, 2012

The rally is at noon on Thursday, and I'm not yet able to tell whether I can use my classroom at 3:30, but there's talk — not official word, just talk — that no classes can be held during some as-yet unrevealed time period around the rally.

The location for this rally is right in the center of campus — a beautiful photo op, where a great-looking crowd can be compressed between parallel lines of buildings and where the President can be framed looking out on that crowd, just in front of a statue of Abraham Lincoln, with the city skyline in the background, featuring the state capitol building. Nice for the campaign, but positioned to maximize disruption of regular classes. Is that a bug or a feature? If there are no classes and it's a class day, students are around and they are free to attend. Classes are being cancelled to supply the photogenic crowd for the President?

Would the same facilitation be provided to the Romney campaign? It's perfectly easy to say yes. This is Madison, Wisconsin, a liberal and left-wing political stronghold. The Romney campaign will never seek this access, so the need to treat it equally is purely hypothetical.

Here’s a look at other visits by sitting presidents, past presidents and candidates who would go on to the Oval Office, based on a search of university archival material and the State Historical Society....

Here? Guess where here is?! It's the Obama campaign website. And to get a ticket you have to fill out the campaign's form, providing them with your email address, full name, and phone number! This information is all required to get access to the event.

68 comments:

I remember being distinctly irritated one time when Gore came to speak and I had to go a very weird way to class, around multiple buildings, because a huge chunk of campus was closed off for security. All universities care about is what they can say in the brochures.

Saying and doing are two different things. Somehow I suspect if Romney were to try to do the same at UW there would be some 'technical' issues. If I were a student, especially if I were paying full freight I would be pissed if I had my classes cancelled. I'm sure the parents are also thrilled to see their money wasted for nothing more than a photo op.

I think an institution in Virginia turned down a campaign appearance this year. It came on the first day of class, as I recall, and they simply didn't want the disruption. Madison, however, will revel in experience, which tells you quite a bit about Madison.

I'd think Obama's rally will be a stimulative and learning experience in any case. Boring lectures (not yours, I'm sure, Professor) happen all the time. Seeing first-hand the spectacle of a POTUS visit, with all the attendant security, political hullabaloo, and news media attraction could be useful to nearly all students.

Students should ask for a refund for any classes canceled for political activity. Then again, I was one of the rare college students who got perfect attendance in almost every class every semester. I'd be annoyed if I were essentially robbed of a class I had paid for.

How much is an adoring crowd of Madison college students going to help Obama in carrying the state of Wisconsin?

The video will be of the mass of UW students, not of the more colorful denizens of the People's Republic of Madison, but will the symbolism and optics of a big rally in Madison help Obama with the swing voters who represent the difference between Obama carrying the state in 2008 and Walker being elected in 2010?

I will be surprised if the no-go zone in only 500 ft. A good shooter with a rifle can hit what can be seen out to 500 yards or so. So I expect that a significant part of the campus with line-of-sight access to the presidential presence will be cleared out and shut down. However, I'm pretty sure no one who matters will object.

So he's not speaking to me. He's using our money, our resources, our giant airplane, our money, our time, to speak specifically to someone else, about himself most likely, and if about someone else, then to mischaracterize them.

I would be pissed if I was a student there forced to skip class. I understand people like Eric Holder, who protested and skipped final exams for two years of college (yet still managed to pass), do not see college as an opportunity to learn the most that you can. Some of us however, actually went to college to learn, not to skip classes and exams. Considering the incredible cost of college these days, I find it unethical to force students to skip their classes for a political rally. They may be the minority, but some people really do value learning.

Will Baldwin be there? I begrudgingly accept a President coming to campus and wasting my tax and tuition dollars, but if they turn it into a campaign rally for others (ala Tom Barrett) I think it's pret' near criminal misappropriation.

Since people mentioned Romney, I just heard that he will be appearing the same day in Fishersville, VA, not far from where I live. He and Ryan will be at the Augusta County Fairgrounds at 6:00pm (so people with 9-5 jobs can go). Gate opens at 4:00.

How big is the venue? I can't find a number, but it's big enough to have held a Monster Truck rally, a Confederate Railroad concert, and (duh) a County Fair in the last couple of months, in an area where county fairs are a big deal, so it's pretty big. And they won't be disrupting any classes or anything else except possibly traffic on nearby roads (I may take a different route home from work that day) since there's not much except farms and a factory or two around Expoland (that's the name of the fairgrounds, if anyone wants to research it further).

Blogger 'Fishersville Mike' has mentioned the rally, but I don't know whether he's planning to go.

"The University's web page takes care to frame the event as a "presidential visit" rather than a campaign rally."All while the University negotiates with the campaign for covering the costs. Why do they think the campaign is willing to pay those costs if it's not a campaign event?

A visit like this can easily cost the University tens of thousands of dollars for increased security. The Obama campaign very rarely picks up the tab for these expenses so they'll get passed on to the Wisconsin taxpayers. Since Obama became president, he has cost taxpayers $1.3 billion to pay for his and his family's travel expenses.

ricpic, I was a gov't major, so I'm biased. But I think students, empty vessels that they may be, can learn from observation and experience. Watch the motorcade. Try getting inside the barrier with or without ID. Listen to the speaker, estimate the crowd size, and listen to their response. How many non-white people are in the crowd? How many will remain an hour after the motorcade has left?

I wonder what the cost is to each student for one day of classes. I bet it is not pocket change, considering the steep cost of college these days. Is the Obama campaign going to reimburse this money to the students who are forced to skip a day of classes? What about science experiments that need to be tossed away and started over. Sometimes an experiment can't wait until the next day. A culture may die, an important timepoint missed, something needs to be extracted at a specific time, something was incubating or processing, etc. Does he understand how disruptive his presence may be?

I wonder what the cost is to each student for one day of classes. I bet it is not pocket change, considering the steep cost of college these days

Do the math. Tuition -- in-state -- is $5K. Assume each student takes 15 credits, or 5 3-cr classes. The T/Th classes are typically 75 minutes. You'd be missing 1 or 2 of those, if they fell on Thursday afternoon. So 1/30th or 2/30th of 1/5th of your class load.

$66, or so.

If you are out of state, multiply the cost 5-fold or 6-fold, or something like that.

My daughter doesn't have Thursday afternoon classes, she's typically working then, but she'll probably see the President instead.

I have a hard time thinking that this should be on Bascom Hill. I am sure that it will be a great visual because the buildings are beautiful (except for the law school), the campus and trees will look wonderful, and the buildings will frame and contain the crowd. On the other hand, this is one of the busiest intersections on campus. Is everyone going to get rerouted who doesn't apply for a ticket? What about the disruptions to the classrooms all around Bascom Hill? Clearly, the administration is more interested in providing Obama with great optics than they are with education, otherwise they would be steering this rally to any number of more appropriate but less visually appealing spots on campus.